No Man’s Sky is going to be huge

One of the biggest surprises of last year’s VGX awards show, other than how terrible it was, was the reveal of No Man’s Sky, from Hello Games. A number of things made it stand out. Firstly, it’s an indie game, coming from the guys who brought you Joe Danger. It also has the most incredible scope and ambition, indie game or not. And it’s going to be huge.

It’s features a procedurally generated, yet unified universe. When a player logs in and discovers a new location (a planet, a star, or whatever other celestial body) it gets logged and synched to a star map for all other players to visit. What then, is going to be left for players to find if they happen to start playing late in the game’s life?

Apparently lots.

"The first thing is that you probably underestimate the size of the universe," Hello Games Managing Director Sean Murray told Edge when asked about this very thing.

"If all of the people on Earth right now had very powerful spaceships and were to visit every corner of every planet in the universe, we would not do very well in our lifetime of mapping that out," he said.

"The second thing is that the outer edges of the first galaxy will begin to be more explored, but as more and more players come into the game there are mechanisms we’re bringing in that will keep everything in flux, and that ties in with things you can do that are of significance," Murray said coyly.

The game’s not just about exploration though, as it’ll feature both land and space combat as well. Space exploration and combat, with an infinitely large procedurally-generated universe? Sounds a heck of a lot like a modern day Elite to me. And that’s something to be excited about.

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I'm old, grumpy and more than just a little cynical. One day, I found myself in possession of a NES, and a copy of Super Mario Bros 3. It was that game that made me realise that games were more than just toys to idly while away time - they were capable of being masterpieces.
I'm here now, looking for more of those masterpieces.
I am also the emperor of the backend

This, and “One of the biggest surprises of last year’s VGX awards show, other than how terrible it was,” combine to make me too happy this afternoon. i should go to the gym, at least i’m smiling

Rags

I am not sold on this. It will be fun for a while, but procedural graphics is like driving through a dry Karoo. What it has in size, it lacks the wow factor. 😛

Hammersteyn

Depending on the battles you would wage, this would be Google maps in a made up universe.

Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

It seems tempting It really does. It plays on everyone’s want to explore the unexplored and discover new places etc.

But how long before “Oh look another planet” sets in? I hope I’m wrong though as I really do want this to be a cool game

El Capitan del Blade

For me personally, “Oh look another planet” has several exclamation marks. This game feels like it’s targeting me! Same reason i played Daggerfall for so long, the world was near infinite, also a procedurally generated map…

Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

Don’t get me wrong. I love that too. But how long will it be before it wears off and feels pointless?

Matthew Holliday

Depends, if each planet has a unique objective, like it looks like they do, with the giant crashed ship and stuff.
things could feel pretty fresh for a while.

Brenz

Im hoping planets have civilzations on them, actual cultures, differing depending how far they are in technology, so one planet could have a tribe only, another has a metropolis, etc.
Each planet has it own secrets, reasons to make you want to explore.
Couple all of that with mmo style play, pvp, group exploration and all the other elements from mmo’s as we know them, this game could be the biggest most immersive mmo ever, provided all these elements are done right

Brenz

Ive always loved the idea of space exploration, real space exploration though, not Mass Effect half assed little side game. This has the potential to be pretty special, I hope it is.

Matthew Holliday

yeah, the exploration in mass effect was a side thing, not that it was a bad thing though, it was an action/RPG/storyline shooter.

but its the whole point of this game, should be pretty interesting.

I thought the old star wars fighter jet designs on the bros plane was pretty funny though.

Acornbread

Quite excited about this.

Decembermaloy

Didn’t their place get flooded recently?

BanditZA

Yeah, insurance didnt cover it either

Verrayne

It looks awesome. I really long for a space game where there are hundreds of planets that I can go and explore that don’t all look the same.